{"id":32488,"date":"2018-10-29T15:01:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T09:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=32488"},"modified":"2018-11-19T15:05:50","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T09:35:50","slug":"our-fixation-with-metro-rail-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/our-fixation-with-metro-rail-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Our fixation with metro rail projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/opinion\/columns\/our-fixation-with-metro-rail-projects\/article25302062.ece\">Our fixation with metro rail projects<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>News: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The article discusses about the viability metro rail system in India with regard to the economic viability and the transportation needs of cities.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Important Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Metro projects in India: <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>After the first metro project in Kolkata in 1984, India executed its second metro rail project in Delhi in 2002.<\/li>\n<li>But afterwards, there was a surge in metro rail projects across Indian cities.<\/li>\n<li>In the past decade, more than 13 cities in India have sanctioned for metro rail systems and many more States are still vying for metro rail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-29313\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kolkata.jpg?resize=627%2C75&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"627\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kolkata.jpg?w=627&amp;ssl=1 627w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kolkata.jpg?resize=150%2C18&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kolkata.jpg?resize=300%2C36&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px\" \/><\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Concerns about metro rail system in India: <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Metro systems cater only to the vision of Indian urban elites by its <strong>\u201cultra-modern\u201d<\/strong> appeal infused with values of \u201cdiscipline\u201d and \u201ccleanliness.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The mass of urban poor in India cannot afford to travel by metros. Even amongst the middle-class users of private vehicles in the country, the use of metro systems is not very encouraging.<\/li>\n<li>Implementing metro rail projects come with<strong> significant economic and administrative costs<\/strong> as they are among the most expensive forms of mass rapid transit systems, and involve extensive land use changes for their implementation.<\/li>\n<li>It drives out investments from other cheaper modes of public transport such as bus systems, which cater to the majority of lower middle and urban poor segments.<\/li>\n<li>Also, the bus systems can cover a much larger area for the same amount of expenditure.<\/li>\n<li>In public-private partnerships,<strong> corrupt practices<\/strong> pervade due to inefficiency of the State to regulate such partnerships.<\/li>\n<li>The current trends in implementation of metro systems, irrespective of the city size and population mark, depicts a <strong>hasty approach towards urban planning<\/strong> that lacks earnest assessment and consideration of public transportation needs of our cities.<\/li>\n<li>The government has substantially contributed to metro projects through <strong>subsidies and equities.<\/strong> Revenues have also been leveraged through loans from <strong>international donor agencies. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>For instance,<\/strong> for both <strong>Bengaluru and Kochi metro systems,<\/strong> the government has contributed through equities and loans, and additional financial assistance has been sought from agencies like Japanese International Cooperation Agency <strong>(JICA)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The entitlement of huge subsidies to metro projects also comes at the cost of other welfare schemes such as affordable housing, education or healthcare systems.<\/li>\n<li>The debts incurred from external agencies often pile up as projects are delayed due to land acquisition or other legal issues.<\/li>\n<li>The most extensive and densely networked <strong>Delhi metro system <\/strong>even has not fully incorporated related measures of<strong> inter-transport integration.<\/strong> This has led to <strong>underutilisation of its capacity<\/strong> at least 20 per cent less than its available capacity.<\/li>\n<li>The<strong> Chennai metro<\/strong>, also run way below their carrying capacity, to an extent that certain stations are almost deserted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> Way Forward: <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>The metro rail projects should be carefully implemented in <strong>integration<\/strong> with other public conveyance modes.<\/li>\n<li>The incorporation of assessment systems to gauge the need of metro systems,should be based on <strong>requirements of individual cities.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It should be accompanied by a comprehensive <strong>follow-up system <\/strong>to ensure these assessments find a place in actual policy implementation.<\/li>\n<li>The urban planning schemes\u00a0 should be developed based on<strong> holistic visions of transportation needs<\/strong> of cities through adoption and integration of different modes of conveyance within cities.<\/li>\n<li>Lastly, investments must be channelled to <strong>enhance the capacity and efficiency<\/strong> of low cost transport modes that can cater to the vast majority of urban residents, rather than to limited segments of the urban population by high-end infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our fixation with metro rail projects News: The article discusses about the viability metro rail system in India with regard to the economic viability and the transportation needs of cities. Important Facts: Metro projects in India: After the first metro project in Kolkata in 1984, India executed its second metro rail project in Delhi in&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/our-fixation-with-metro-rail-projects\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Our fixation with metro rail projects<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[221,217,299,857,858],"class_list":["post-32488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","tag-economy","tag-gs-3","tag-infrastructure","tag-metro-projects-in-india","tag-transportation","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704923780},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}